Door strip and method of making



Feb. 27, 1934. w. H. Ross DOOR STRIP AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed Julyl 31, 1931 han INVENTOR H Poss ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. a7, 1934 DOOR STRIP AND METHOD OF MAKING Walter H. Ross, Ramsey, N. J., assignor to Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., Passaic, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 31, 1931. Serial No. 554,225

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel guard strip adapted particularly to be used -in connection with doors used by the general public,A e. g., in railway passenger coaches, busses, elevators, etc.,

5 and especially adapted for sliding doors. More particularly, the invention relates to a guard strip .formed of a looped or tubular exible sheet in which the inner surfaces of the sheet are anchored together over an important part of their l area by a material which does not objectionably interfere with the elastic deformation of the strip, and preferably one which is sufciently elastic to assist in returning the flexible strip to its normal form.

In the doors of railway passenger coaches, as one example, it is desirable that the door, when closed, should be substantiallywind-tight, and yet in closing should present an edge sufficiently soft so that if the door is accidentally closed when 80 a passenger is entering a coach it will -not cause him any injury or serious discomfort. Furthermore, and particularly where the doors of a number of coaches are controlled automatically or by a single operator, the edge of the door should be made so that if it is accidentally closed against a passenger, he will not be pinned between the door and the frame, but can easily extricate himself, and thus avoid any injury which might vresult if he were carried along between the door 80 and its frame. l

To meet these requirements, the doors of the railway carriages have heretofore been equipped with bumpers made by looping a heavy sheet of vulcanized rubber over the edge of the door and 85 securing its ends to the door. Such a loop forms a soft cushion which prevents the door from ina juring anyone whom it strikes, and also leaves a substantial width, when the door is closed.- which is suiciently exible to permit a passenger to extricate himself, or any part of his body such as.

his arm or leg, from between the door and its frame, even though the door has been closed upon him. Such bumpers have proved, for the most part, highly satisfactory. They have, however,

45 proved to be short lived, both because they are subject to rapid deterioration on account of their exposure -to weather and because of Vaccidental and wanton destruction by passengers, by cutting or tearing the rubber sheet. Furthermore. such strips do not give entirely satisfactory protection against the weather, because oi' the fact that according to the stiffness in the various parts of the rubber along the length of the strip, it may form 4 a narrower or wider loop, and thus may not t uniformly against the door jamb.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a door strip which will withstand long weathering without substantial impairment of its function, and which may be cut and torn without seriously impairing its function, and which 60 will form an elcient weather strip, itting uniformly and tightly against the door jamb when the door is closed.

In the accompanying drawing, I have illustratedl a number of preferred examples of door 55 strips made according to my invention.

Fig. l is a side elevation showing such a strip in place upon the doorof a railway carriage.4

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing such strip in place upon adoor, and

Fig. 3 visla cross sectional view illustrating another form in which the invention may be embodied. i

Referring first to Fig. 1, the strip 10 of rubber sheet is looped over the edge of the door ll, and is fastened to the door near its'edge by means of the metal strips 12. In the preferred form of the invention, the strip l0 is of vulcanized rubber sheet reinforced by a single layer of canvas Yduck. The exact composition of the sheet, howso ever, is not important, and it will. be understood that there may be several layers of duck, or the duck may be entirely omitted. According to the present invention, the sheet 10 is looped into the .shape shown in Fig. 1 before Iit is given its nal 85 hotvulcanization. By so doing, the rubber of the strip is permitted to readjust-itself to the looped form while softened by the heat before being given its final set. I have found that the strip thus formed, so as to be in relaxed condition in the 90 looped form, will withstand weathering for very much longer periods and under more severe conditions of service than will strips which have been used heretofore, which have been made by bending a flat sheet into looped form after its final vulcanization; and furthermore will tend always to resume its shape accurately fitted to the door jamb, since there will be no tendency to bulge more or less along its length.

As shown m Fig. 2, it is desirable a1so to rem- 100 force the loop by means of a'cushion 14 of a material which is readily compressible, and which vreadily returns to its original shape after being compressed, but which is capable of adhering securely to the inner surfaces of the looped rubber105 sheet, and which willitself have suicient tensile strength to hold the rubber sheet on the two sides of the loop spaced as desired, independently of the tendency ofthe rubber sheet itself 'to hold such spacing, and even though the rubber sheet/ be largely voids, but the voids of which will beY should be out, torn, or otherwise mutilated, so as no longer to be capable of holding its form without support. This cushion 14 is most advantageously made of sponge rubber of a relatively soft open structure. It may, however, be of other materials such, for example, as ground rubber cemented together by a lm of rubber deposited from latex or a solution in organic solvents and vulcanized so as to form a reticulated structure of elastic rubber which, like sponge rubber, will open to the atmosphere, instead of enclosed, as in the case of sponge rubber; or the cushion may be of felted brous material cemented together by a film of rubber, e. g., deposited from a dispersion or solution and vulcanized so as to hold the libres in their loosely felted arrangement, and to lend to them some additional elasticity.

In the example illustrated in Fig. 2, the cushion 14 fills the greater part of the space between the inner surfaces of the looped sheet 10. An open space, however, is left adjacent the end 'of the loop, which allows the softer tip to take the impact in case the door should strike an entering passenger. In other cases, even less of the cushion may be used. For example, as shown in Fig. 3, there may be separated strips of the cushion with air spaces between, or blocks of the cushion may be used, as shown in Fig. 2, but spaced vertically so that less than the entire space between the sides of the loop will be iilled with the cushion. g

In some cases, a wire or other device within the loop is made to control the operation of the door so that if a passenger or other obstacle is in the way of the door, it will automatically draw back and be opened again to permit the passenger to enter the car before closing. Where such devices are used, it may be necessary to leave a suitable space near the end of the loop, e. g., as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, Within which such devices may be mounted and may operate. Orl the door control device may be more or less embedded in the cushion 14 so that upon compression of the 14, preferably of sponge rubber, is advantageously formed rst and vulcanized. The looped strip 10 may also be formed advantageously by giving 85 it its final set cure in the looped condition, as already described, and the two may then'be cef mented together, or the cushion 14 may be preformed as described, and the sheet 10 may be formed and partially cured, and may then be looped to the final form over the cushion 14 and cemented thereto, after which the sheet may be given its nal cure and thecement by which it is made to adhere to the cushion 14` maybe vulcanized at the same time. For this purpose, a highly accelerated rubber cement is desirable, in order that its cure may be completed during the final cure of the sheet 10. l

Although I have described above and shown in the accompanying drawing a preferred embodiment of my invention and `a number of alternatives and modifications, nevertheless, it is to be understood that many other changes may be made within the scope of this invention.

What I claim is:

1. A flexible safety strip for doors, which co'mprises an open loop of rubber sheet and a filling of soft sponge rubberadhering throughout its length to the inside of said sheet at opposite sides of said loop near its open end and spaced from the sheet in the bight of the loop,- whereby to leave a free space within said bght of the loop.

2. A flexible safety strip as defined in claim 1, in which the rubber sheet comprises rubber .of substantial thickness relaxed when in said loop. form.

WALTER n. Ross.

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